Hot Water
by Metal Chocobo
Summary: Roxas always got the short end of the stick in life. However there was no way he was letting his idiotic brothers mess up his chance for a hot shower on the day of his Physics final. [AU, incredibly slight AkuRoku]


Metal Chocobo: Hey there guys. Sorry that I haven't posted anything lately... been busy with end of the year stuff and since my editor graduated, I've been scrambling for a replacement (I've talked a friend into filling the post for the summer). A couple of you out there may read Ordinary Adventures and I have to say it isn't dead. In fact I've in the process of making my editor's corrections right now. But enough about that, I'm here to introduce Hot Water, a belated birthday fic (by about a month) to **ShadowAili** (who got to see it in it's unedited form on her birthday). So yeah, in case you didn't get the memo, this awesome author's birthday was a month ago and I'm only now posting her fic. I hope you enjoy it!

DISCLAIMER: If I owned Kingdom Hearts, not only would there be action figures, we could buy keyblades separately. I meant it could work like trading card packages, where one wold buy the package and not know which keyblade was inside. A lotta packages would be bought in order to get all the keyblades, and one could trade for the keybalde that they really wanted. Plus it would help make your action figure stand out, I meant there'd no longer be a chance of losing _your_ Sora when you met up with friends that also had that same model. It's the perfect plan, and yet since I dn't own Kingdom Hearts, I can't execute it... I think we all know what keyblade I'd want.

**Hot Water**

Roxas got the short end of the stick in life. He was the one who always got stuck with the strawberry part of Neapolitan ice cream. He was kicked out of his room on a regular basis so that Sora and Riku could have some "privacy." Even after Demyx got his license, Roxas never got to ride shotgun. He dreamed of the day that he'd be the one to nab the last slice of pizza.

The thing that Roxas liked the best though, was taking long hot showers. The shower was the only place Roxas had absolute control and privacy. He could lock the door, turn the water to nearly boiling, and spend twenty minutes in his own little world.

The shower was the only place Roxas could truly think. The hot water beating along his tight muscles coupled with the repetitive motion of lathering his body allowed Roxas' mind to free itself. The shower gave Roxas a chance to wonder about life, death, and everything else in between. It was in the shower that he had come up with his hypothesis on light refraction that won him the state science fair last year.

There was a problem though. Roxas was not a morning person, while his brothers Demyx and Sora were. Every morning while Roxas was still asleep, they would prance into the bathroom and use up all the water. Roxas couldn't wait around for an hour or so every morning until there was finally hot water. Unlike these two bubbly idiots—who really didn't care how hot the water was—Roxas had to be to school early every day. An hour early in fact, so that he could catch the beginning of his two-hour Honors Physics class (his insane professor had set it up so that two years of physics could be crammed into one).

So the only time Roxas ever got a nice hot shower was either in the evenings or the weekends. Namely time periods that he didn't need a rejuvenating shower. This meant that Roxas came to school everyday tired, sore, and unprepared. The lack of happy shower time also gave Roxas his famous short fuse. Few people knew it, but on the weekends after Roxas had slept twelve hours and taken his hot shower, he was a cheerful and mellow guy, even more so than his brothers.

Currently Roxas was angry. Really pissed in fact. He had just found out that his final was in two weeks, and since it was a two and a half hour test, he'd have to get up even earlier than usual to make the test. There was no way he'd survive a two-and-a-half-hour long Physics final that started at 6:00 am… not unless he could get a nice hot shower.

That evening he sat both of his brothers down for a nice little chat. It was an important conversation, so he made certain that he had their full attention without any annoying distractions.

"I can't believe you literally tossed Riku out the door!" Sora wailed. "You didn't even toss him on the grass, oh no you just had to throw him on the sidewalk! He slid, Roxas, he slid! Now my baby's gonna be all cut up!"

"Sora, shut up," Roxas ordered.

Sora's mouth opened and closed indignantly several times, but no sound came out. He sat down next to Demyx on the couch and glared at Roxas.

"Would you have done the same thing to Zexy if he was here?" Demyx asked timidly.

"No," Roxas replied. He continued to speak even while Sora yelled angrily. "He would have had the sense to leave of his own free will when he saw Riku get thrown out the front."

Demyx and Sora stared at their little brother. "So why do you want us here?" Demyx questioned. "Without our boyfriends?"

"We need to have a little talk," Roxas explained, leaning over the other two. "I have a Physics final in two weeks."

"So what?" Sora snapped.

"So if I fail it because you two messed up my prep time, I'm gonna snap your little necks!" Roxas yelled.

The elder siblings clung to each other in terror as the youngest boy calmed down. Demyx offered Roxas a silly grin. "I like my neck the way it is," the mulleted man added.

"I wouldn't really snap your necks," Roxas sighed, "I'd do something much worse."

Roxas cleared his throat, "The night before my final neither one of you will have a boyfriend in the house past eight. Also the morning of the final, neither one of you will shower. I want the water hot enough to boil me alive."

Sora raised his hand and waved it eagerly. Roxas called on him.

"What if we don't comply with these mandates?" Sora asked. "I mean it wouldn't be on purpose or anything, but you know Riku likes to come into our room at about midnight through the window."

Roxas grimaced. "I know very well, Sora, you kick me out of our room on the weekends," he reminded his elder brother. "However," Roxas continued, "If your dear Romeo does visit in the middle of the night, Sora, I will burry all of your stuffed animals in an unknown location. Also, since Riku practically lives with us, I will shave every inch of his body."

Sora gasped, "You'd shave his pretty head?"

"I'd shave _all_ of him," Roxas explained, before adding, "that includes the bits covered by his swimsuit. You'd better hope that I don't slip."

Sora's face paled visibly when he realized what Roxas implied. "Oh," he mouthed.

"And as for you, Demyx," Roxas said, turning to the other. "If you cross me I'll "accidentally" send a tape, mislabeled as 'Demyx's Recital,' to all of our relatives."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Demyx grinned before thinking. He gave Roxas a suspicious look. "What's on the tape, Roxas?"

"Do you remember when you borrowed my new camera last month? Well, you forgot to stop its recording," Roxas smirked slightly. "Before I got my camera back I had no idea that you were such a fan of cowboys. Especially when you had Zexion take a lasso and—"

Demyx catapulted himself off the couch and onto Roxas. He slapped Roxas a couple of times and covered his mouth tightly. "You don't have to explain any more," Demyx breathed.

Excellent," Roxas smiled, after shoving Demyx off. "Also if you do mess up, I start sending pieces of Mr. Fluffyluffinkins to Zexion in the mail."

"Not Mr. Fluffyluffinkins!" Demyx wailed, starting to cry.

A moment should be taken to explain Mr. Fluffyluffinkins. Mr. Fluffyluffinkins is a faded raggedy stuffed pink rabbit. Demyx received it nineteen years ago on the day of his birth. He was covered with stains and repaired countless times from various mishaps in Demyx's childhood. Demyx loved that stuffed rabbit, its name was the first one Demyx ever learned.

Until December of sixth grade, Demyx brought Mr. Fluffyluffinkins everywhere. Two weeks before winter break a boy named Seifer Almasy got hold of Mr. Fluffyluffinkins. He decided to dissect the rabbit by making an incision down the rabbit's abdomen and removed all of the stuffing from inside. When Demyx caught Seifer peering over Mr. Fluffyluffinkins like a mad scientist, he went into a rage. Attacking Seifer, Demyx wrestled the scalpel away and slashed Seifer across the face to save Mr. Fluffyluffinkins.

Demyx was suspended for two weeks and grounded for a month. Mr. Fluffyluffinkins was not allowed to be fixed until after Demyx's grounding was over, so he had to return to school without him. There was a new face in the class after break, a new boy named Zexion. From day one Demyx clung to Zexion and eventually they started to date in high school. But Demyx never told Zexion about Mr. Fluffyluffinkins.

"So you swear you won't mess up?" Roxas asked.

Demyx shook his head. "I swear," he promised. "I swear I won't mess up."

"Excellent," Roxas grinned.

For the next two weeks everything was normal. Roxas continued to be thrown out of his room, forced to ride in the backseat, and have his sea-salt ice cream eaten. Riku and Zexion even came over the night before the final.

Roxas casually strolled into the living room. Riku, Sora, Demyx, and Zexion were all piled on the couch. He glanced at his watch, which read 7:59. "You know," Roxas commented casually, "It's a minute to eight."

"So what?" Riku grunted.

Roxas' announcement had a different effect on Sora and Demyx. In fact, Demyx screamed, "Mr. Fluffyluffinkins!" and threw Zexion off his lap. He the proceeded to drag the stunned man out the kitchen door.

"Dem, what—" Zexion started, before the door was slammed in his face and locked. The periwinkle haired man hollered through the door that he should at least have his shoes tossed out, but Demyx ignored him.

Riku's eviction was less noisy, but more difficult. Sora managed to lead Riku by the hand out the front door and locked it. But then Riku just used his key to unlock it. Sora slammed the door shut again and put on the chain lock then to keep him out.

Fearing that Riku and Zexion would get in through the back door with Riku's key, Demyx and Sora picked up the couch and put it in front of the back door.

At about ten Riku tried to get into the house through Sora's window. Roxas snickered as he watched Sora push Riku off the windowsill. The brunet then shut the window and pulled the blinds. There were no more disturbances.

At five in the morning Roxas woke up with a groan. Seven hours of sleep was no where near enough. He stumbled out of bed right away, otherwise he would have gone back to sleep. Sora was still asleep in his cocoon of blankets.

'_I guess 5:00 am is too early for even Sora,'_ Roxas thought as he left their shared room. He padded down the hall toward the bathroom. Frowning slightly at the light seeping out from under the door, Roxas opened it.

Roxas was hit with moist hot air and blinding light. He could hear water beating against the shower's tile and a man singing. There was a man in the shower with Demyx's build behind the yellow curtain.

Roxas stormed into the bathroom. "Demyx!" he bellowed. "I'm gonna kill you!"

He ripped open the shower curtain. He grabbed the man by his ear and pulled him out if the shower. Roxas dragged the shower usuper out into the hallway yelling death threats and obscenities all the way.

Roxas halted in front of a sleepy Sora. "I'm gonna kill Dem!" he roared, shaking his prize.

"But I haven't done anything wrong!" Demyx wailed.

Roxas turned to yell at Demyx before realizing that Demyx should be in his grip. He stared at the blonde in his kitty pajamas, while clutching his stuffed rabbit. "Why aren't you on the ground?" Roxas demanded sharply.

"I dunno," Demyx mumbled, scratching the back of his head. "I was sleeping, and you started screaming, so I came running and… yeah."

"You were in the shower! I know you were because I just pulled you out! Who else could it have been?" Roxas' bravado faded as he continued talking.

"He was," Sora grinned and pointed at the man on the floor.

Roxas looked down to see a nude skinny redhead in his grasp. He had a tall wirey frame that was surprisingly well muscled for its lack of mass, and covered with water droplets. The man also had the modesty of cat.

He had been leaning back on his hands, but lifted one up to give Roxas a small wave. "Hey," he smirked.

Roxas snorted, he wasn't impressed. He turned to see Demyx and said, "I thought you were dating Zippy."

"It's Zexy!" Demyx yelled. It was a sore point for him, the twins often messed up Zexion's pet name. "Get it right for once, Roxas."

Roxas pointed disdainfully to the man sprawled out over the floor. "What is that?" he demanded disdainfully.

"This is Axel Koven," Demyx explained brightly. "He's my biology partner. We have a huge lab today, so he spent the night."

Roxas glared at Axel. "What are you doing in my shower?"

Axel quirked an eyebrow. "_Your_ shower? I was showering." He leaned forward so that his nose lined up with the elastic waistband of Roxas' boxers. "You know a lot of people have wanted my body, but no one's ever been this forceful before, Roxy."

"It's Roxas," Roxas replied tersely. "Call me 'Roxy' again and I'll castrate you."

Axel licked his lips. "Feisty, I like." Roxas glared at him angrily, wishing he could kick him anyways. "You know," Axel drawled leisurely, "your hot water is still running."

Roxas' eyes widened when he realized that Axel was right. "Oh fuck," he swore as he yanked off his shirt. He dropped it on Axel as he turned around and tugged at his boxers. Axel, Demyx, and Sora all received a good mooning before the bathroom door shut.

Axel turned to Demyx and asked, "Does he often striptease like that?"

Demyx shook his head. "Only on the mornings he's running late," he explained.

"Which is almost every school day," Sora added with a grin.

Axel grinned wickedly.

Roxas made it to his test on time. With the power of a good night's sleep and a nice hot shower, Roxas passed his Physics final with flying colors. As a sign of good will and in celebration of Roxas' score, Roxas gave Demyx the only copy of his 'Recital' with Zexion.

He also stopped being late to his Physics class (Roxas still had another four and a half months of school left). This was because Axel, out of the goodness of his heart and as an apology for stealing his shower, came over every day to give him a ride to school. This always occurred after they ate breakfast together—Axel made mean waffles—and Roxas had made his strip run to the shower. Roxas wasn't certain how it happened, but Axel had wormed his way into Roxas' heart, even if he was a shower usurper and a leech.

* * *

So that was Hot Water. I hope you all enjoyed it. Please read and review, it's the only way I can find out what people thought of my work and I love hearing from my readers. Again, this was a happy belated 18th birthday present to my good buddy **ShadowAili**, who deserves ton of gifts... even if they're really late. 


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